New Orleans Saints players, always seeking the even keel, talk about the NFL season as a marathon, in which the consistent team over the long haul comes on top.

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneThe Saints have won 8 of the last 10 games against NFC South rivals the Atlanta Falcons.

But today is something of an exception.

New Orleans (6-3) faces the resurgent Atlanta Falcons (5-3) in a game that provides the inside track in the NFC South. Win, and the Saints go into a needed bye week with a 1 1/2-game lead in the division, back-to-back divisional victories and the majority of their remaining games -- including the rematch with the Falcons -- at home. Lose, and the Saints drift back into the inconsistency that has haunted them for a season and a half and a middling .500 divisional record.

Quarterback Drew Brees knows what is at stake, just as he knows the past three matchups between these rivals have been won by a field goal. Coach Sean Payton, who may spend the game exiled to the coaching box with his injured left leg for the final time, also knows that today could well prove the hinge game for the Saints' season.

Neither coach nor quarterback allowed such thinking to bleed into their pregame comments. Instead, each took a measured tone, predicting a hard-fought game and heaping praise on their division rival. Each acknowledged the heightened significance Saints/Falcons games have acquired in the past few seasons, but each was virtually monotone and vanilla when discussing it.

"I think they've found their balance," Payton said of Atlanta's recovery from a 1-2 start. "They're an explosive team. They have a lot of real good playmakers offensively. I think the one thing that you've seen, too, is I would say they're playing as good of football defensively as we've seen. They have real good team speed on defense, they tackle very well, and they get to the ball. They've been able to pressure other team's quarterbacks, not necessarily with any dogs or blitzes, but they've done a good job with their four-man rush. There are a lot of challenges that they present."

New Orleans Saints Black and Gold Report: the FalconsIn this week's episode of The Black and Gold Report, Times-Picayune Saints writers James Varney and Mike Triplett talk with columnist Jeff Duncan about what it will take to beat the Dirty Birds. John DeShazier tells us what he's looking for in the game, and we play another round of the weekly Saints Trivia Challenge.

Or, in a shorthand quite familiar to Louisiana football fans, Atlanta is a 'very capable' football team.

That's one reason New Orleans must view today as the first step on a gradual hike, rather than a huge game whose outcome could reverberate, as Garrett Hartley's missed overtime field goal against Atlanta did last season.

"No, I have my routine, and I feel like it works very well for me," Brees said. "It prepares me as well as I can prepare going into every game. I think there's definitely those moments during the season, where it hasn't been happening the way it should. You focus on the process and keep plugging away. And there are those times where you're rolling, it's clicking for whatever reason. You're playing with confidence and have the mojo. But still I think you should be a steady incline with that. I feel like this is that point in the season, again, November, where you want to hit that stretch where you feel really good about the way you're playing and where you're going."

Judging by the final injury reports, New Orleans will go with the running-back trio of Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Mark Ingram. Payton, who acknowledged the difficulty of trying to keep four backs active in rotation, listed Chris Ivory as questionable with a hamstring injury.

On defense, however, the Saints likely will be without cornerback Patrick Robinson. In addition, cornerback Tracy Porter was carted off the Superdome field one week ago. That means the Falcons may be able to attack a depleted Saints secondary.

And there the game may hinge on a big play. Last week, Atlanta rookie wide receiver Julio Jones, on whom the Falcons bet big on draft day last April, had his breakout professional game, catching touchdown passes of 50 and 80 yards as the Falcons won their third consecutive game.

Against Tampa Bay last week, Payton praised the defense for "keeping it in front of them," and that will be a goal today, too. Safety Malcolm Jenkins conceded New Orleans defense has been vulnerable to the big play at times, and said the Saints' base deployment in which he lines up very deep can be expected to pay dividends.

"It's going to do real well for us, the fact that we can play with some depth sideline to sideline, it almost takes away those deep throws and makes you earn your underneath," Jenkins said. "We have a lot of confidence in our corners to cover. If I can take away those deep throws and make them force the ball into tight coverages underneath with our corners covering, it plays into our hands. I just have to stay patient, and whoever is back there has to stay patient and not get greedy and jump something. We also need to keep the ball in front of us and make them earn every yard. That will be huge."

On the other hand, the ripple effect of the danger Jones presents is a problem. For one thing, it pulls coverage away from Roddy White, who remains the Falcons' leading receiver, and with two wideouts drawing attention, it could free up space in the intermediate passing game for tight end Tony Gonzalez.

And while Gonzalez, long a chunk of grit in New Orleans' football ointment, isn't generally known as a big-play receiver, he does have five touchdown catches, and he has long had the ability to pick up first downs. Jenkins said he and the linebackers must help covering Gonzalez at times, but he pointed out that Gonzalez's ability to angle his body and Ryan's ability to fire the ball into tight spaces means it is virtually impossible to silence Gonzalez, who likely will be in the Hall of Fame. The goal, then, is to ensure he has "a quieter game," as Jenkins noted was the case in the Saints' victory in Atlanta last season.

Indeed, in what certainly stands as an infuriating trend for Altanta fans, the Saints have won quite a lot in the Georgia Dome. New Orleans has taken four of the past five games it played there, and leads the series there all-time 10-9.

All of which means Atlanta has as much on the line as New Orleans. And all of which moved Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan to note that, despite the calm rhetoric, something fast and furious can be expected to unfold in the game.

"I can say this about every time I play New Orleans: it's always a tough, physical game," Ryan said. "I know both sides are spirited. We have an emotional team that plays that way every week, and they do, too. It's a lot of fun in-division. You always have something extra at stake in-division."